Cargo Ship Hijacked Off The Coast Of France
With all that is happening around the world, one recent incident stands out that more sounds like a Clancy or le Carre spy novel rather than reality. This concerns the possible capture and then disappearance of the 4,000-ton, 295 foot bulk carrier, the Arctic Sea and its 15-member Russian crew.
This has all the trappings of yet another act of piracy. This time, however, the ship was not off the coast of Somalia. Although astounding, it appears that the ship last made contact from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of France.
Cloak and dagger implications abound with speculation that the ship was carrying “secret” cargo, according to Mikhail Boytenko, editor of Russia’s respected Sovfracht maritime journal.
“I think there was probably some sort of secret cargo on this vessel, not criminal but secret, and a third party of some sort did not want the cargo to get to another party so this highly sophisticated operation was cooked up,” he told Reuters.
“My view is that it is most likely that the vessel has been hijacked,” Viktor Matveyev, director of the Finnish company Solchart, which operates the vessel, told Reuters. “We of course hope that everything is okay with the crew.”
Reuters reported that the Kremlin has ordered Russian warships to join the hunt for the Arctic Sea , whose fate has baffled maritime authorities across Europe and North Africa.
As this mystery deepens and unfolds, once again, fact may prove stranger than fiction.
[...] Cargo Ship Hijacked Off The Coast Of France [...]
[...] has found and boarded the Arctic Sea – the cargo ship which has been missing in mysterious circumstances since last month. [...]